Our Urban Town a Publication of the Staten Island Urban CenterOur Urban Town is a quarterly publication that shares thought provoking, intellectually provocative, community news, ideas and opinions from Staten Island's urban neighborhoods.

#reSIStah issue​in celebration of women's history month

​the Woke reSIStah Issue Our Urban Town publishes thought provoking ideas, intellectually provocative reflections, community news, and opinions from the very people in the community who passionately live and/or work with these issues. In this Woke ReSistah Issue, Our Urban Town shares the writings of women activists on Staten Island as a tribute to the contributions of women right now in this borough. Due to space constraints, these are just a small sample of women activists doing the work on the island, but our hope is that these writings inspire readers to be or continue to be activists, to share real stories, advocate for real solutions and to fight for real for the things they believe in. In the era of WOKE and RESIST, it’s our time to be activists everywhere we go and in everything we do.Kelly Vilar,​Editor of Our Urban Town & ​CEO of Staten Island Urban Center

I am a 21 years old, bilingual student at the College of Staten Island, My major is sociology and anthropology and I would like to discuss my opinion about what I have heard about Staten Island development. I went to a meeting where I met community activists at Everything Goes Cafe. They discussed the many social issues in Staten Island. For example, they talked about police brutality, affordable housing, homelessness, gentrification and more. Many of these issues had no easy solution.There are many other issues with bringing companies to invest in Staten Island. First is the hope that there will be jobs as a result. Then there is speculating and gentrification that in turn cause many families to be displaced. Second is the lack of investment businesses make in communities. Businesses do not like to pay more for wages or taxes and look for quick profit. In contrast, communities want to develop to progress and have better things. I believe gentrification is a good and bad thing and a solution is needed to create growth and develop better things for communities, while not displacing local residents. I believe the solution for a growing community is to take things at a slower pace or create plans with assurances that do not affect existing communities in a negative way. For example, if we build just the mall and not the other things that communities need like transportation, recreation, schools, people would get jobs then after few years quality of life does not improve. In fact, quality of life gets worse. The reason why I say this is because most people in the north shore community are not home owners. They are renters and small local businesses that don’t necessarily benefit when there is big luxury housing and stores being built around them. Instead, they feel the negative impact of a fast paced, fast growing plan that does not include the needs of the people who live and work here now. As I look at this issue, the biggest solution I can offer is to invest more in planning. It will make things change. Hotels, tourist attractions, malls, and office buildings create an illusion that growth is happening because it really is only for those who do not reside here.